Save Yourself Octavia
by ThaliaGrace318
Summary: The events after 1x05 Twilight's Last Gleaming from Octavia's point of view - her first encounter with the grounder who saved her.


As The 100's flares blazed a trail across the night sky their light cast an ire, red tinted glow on the ground below. Lying at the bottom of the ravine that she'd fallen from Octavia saw red light flashing behind her eyelids and squinted against it before opening her eyes. Her vision was slightly blurry and her head was aching. She put a hand to her forehead and pulled it away to see blood on her fingertips. It took her a minute to place how it got there. She remembered talking to Bellamy out in the woods, walking away from him angry, running from some noise in the trees...and then falling. She must have hit her head on the way down and it knocked her out - and it was still bleeding.

Her vision cleared, though her head was still pounding in time with her pulse. It was after dark and she needed to get home, back to camp - no one was supposed to be out alone, especially at night. She tried to push herself up, but her whole body was sore from the fall she'd taken. She didn't look forward to trying to climb the ravine. Looking around to see if there was an easier rout, Octavia froze when she saw that she wasn't alone after all.

A grounder, wearing dark clothes patched with animal skin, and with black paint streaked down his face, was kneeling not too far from her. He was watching her, just watching, and Octavia wondered how long he'd been there. Her blood ran cold when the grounder silently rose to his feet. From her position on the ground he towered over her, the red glow in the sky behind him making him look even more menacing.

Octavia gasped, unable to catch the breath to scream, before her vision faded to black once again.

XX

Octavia woke up in darkness, feeling groggy and disoriented. The first thing she noticed was that she was lying on a hard floor. A rush of memory brought her sitting upright, and then closing her eyes with a groan as her head swam and her aching muscles protested. She opened her eyes again as her head cleared and looked around, her eyes adjusting to the dim light. She felt cold and her breathing hitched when she realized that she was in a cave, and that what she has seen before wasn't a dream, or a nightmare – a grounder standing over her.

And now she was in his cave. It certainly looked like someone lived there from what little she could see: books piled to one side by a wall, things hanging from the walls and the roof, crude furniture made from metal and wood. She was also certain that she needed to get out before whoever lives there got back, but when she tried to move her leg a jolt of pain went through her and she covered her mouth just in time to stop a scream.

Octavia waited a minute for the pain to dull down before leaning forward, drawing her leg up carefully, to see what was wrong. Pulling the torn fabric of her pant leg aside she saw that there was a big gash over her knee. She hadn't notice it before, but it must have happened when she fell down the ravine. _That's not good_, she thought. It looked deep and something was pressing outward against the skin - she didn't want to think about what. She ran a hand over her forehead, when suddenly she noticed that there was more light in the room. Her breath caught as she looked up and saw that the light was coming from an opening in the far wall that she hadn't noticed a first glance. Someone was coming! Octavia scrambled to get to her feet, but fell back to the floor with a shout of pain, her injured leg unable to take her weight.

A grounder, the same one she'd seen standing over her before, came into the cave. The light was coming from the sword he was holding, the end of which glowed red hot as though it had just been pulled from a fire. A mask covered the lower half of his face, but by the glow of the sword Octavia could see his dark eyes as they focused on her.

As he came towards her, Octavia held up her hand as if to fend off an attack. "Please," she said desperately. "Please don't hurt me. Please don't..."

The grounder said nothing as he reached down, grabbed her ankle, and pulled her towards him. "No!" Octavia screamed as she was dragged across the floor. "No, please!" The grounder knelt down beside her and pinned her to the floor with one hand as he held the heated sword over her with the other.

"No!" Octavia was crying as she tried to push him off, but he didn't budge. "Please, NO!"

She screamed as he brought the sword down.

XX

Octavia awoke with a jerk, her heart racing and her breath coming fast as her body remembered the pain and fear she felt before passing out. She sat up and looked around frantically. Realizing that she was alone once again she started to calm down.

"Hello! Is anybody there?" she called out, thinking it was better to know if the answer was yes. There was no response, no sound of movement; no one came in through the cave opening. Octavia ran her hands over her arms and legs checking for injuries, remembering the sword being held over her. She wasn't hurt though, in fact she felt better than she had before. Checking the wound on her knee, she was surprised to find that it was sealed shut, the skin smooth like a burn and sensitive to the touch - and whatever had been pressing against the skin was back in its right place. It had been cauterized.

"He fixed it," Octavia said to herself, realizing that the grounder hadn't been trying to hurt her before; he was treating her injury.

She wondered why he would do that as she tested her knee, bending and straightening it. It still hurt, but the pain was manageable. Octavia got herself up, balancing on her good leg, before carefully putting some of her weight on her injured leg. It held up; she limped when she took a few steps, but at least she could walk. Now she just had to find a way out.

Taking in her surroundings, she saw that the cave was bigger than she first thought - the darkness made it seem smaller - and she could see a sliver of the moon through a hole in the ceiling.

Octavia looked around for something she could use as a weapon and settled on what looked like an antler from a deer that was hanging on the wall. She didn't know why the grounder brought her here, and fixed her leg, or what he was going to do with her, but thinking of Jasper and how grounders had treated his wound only to use him as live bait, she didn't want to wait around to find out. Octavia was not one of the fighters in camp, but Annabeth had been teaching her few things, and she would fight back if she had to.

She moved cautiously to the opening in the cave wall with her improvised club raised. Going through the opening she found that it led to a narrow tunnel. As she went into the tunnel the small amount of moonlight in the cave was cut off and she had to feel her way carefully through the dark along the wall. The passage wasn't long; turning a corner, she could see light ahead. Reaching the end of it, Octavia saw that the way out was up. Pale moonlight was coming in through an opening in the ceiling that was just above her head, an opening that was covered by a grate.

Standing on her toes, she reached up to try to move the grate aside but it didn't budge. She braced her feet against the wall closest to her and tried again, using her whole body weight to try to shift the grate - still getting no result - until her hand slipped and she fell back to the floor, landing on her bad leg. She clutched at her leg, gritting her teeth against the pain. It wasn't the pain that brought tears to her eyes though. Looking up at the only way out that was so close and yet out of reach, Octavia knew one thing: she was locked in. And she was so sick of being locked in!

Gathering herself, Octavia got back to her feet. Sitting around crying wasn't going to help. She didn't know how long she'd been in the cave, how long she'd been unconscious, but Bellamy, and others, would be looking for her – her brother wouldn't stop until he found her. She couldn't count on that though. Octavia had no idea where she was, how far from camp, and the others wouldn't know where to find her; she had to find a way out herself. She would go back to the main part of the cave and check more thoroughly for another way out. Maybe there was another passage that she'd missed.

Making her way back through the passage towards the cave, Octavia stopped when she felt a draft of air. She felt along the wall next to her and yes, there was air coming through. This wall wasn't completely solid rock. Octavia dug her hands into the crack between two rocks pulling out the dirt and moss until there was enough space for her to get a grip on the rock itself. She pulled hard on it and it came loose, clattering to the ground. She did the same with the rocks around that space until there was a hole big enough for her to squeeze through. Looking through the hole she saw that it was dark and cramped, and she would just barely fit through it. She couldn't see the end of it or any light ahead, but she could feel a slight breeze on her face, which meant that it had to lead out.

Octavia took a deep breath and pulled herself up into the hole, pulling herself forward until her legs were in. It was a tight fit with barely any space to move, but she started creeping forward. She would get out; inch by inch she moved forward.

It was slow going with no light to see by, and no telling yet where it ended. Octavia didn't know how long she was in there, slowly making her way forward with no sense of time in the cramped darkness. Her hair caught on something and it stung as she pulled it loose; something scuttled across her hand and she hurriedly brushed it off. Her breathing started to come fast as it felt like the stone walls were pressing in and the darkness was smothering her. Octavia stopped moving. Gasping for air, she closed her eyes as images from her past assaulted her: climbing into the hole in the floor of their home, Bellamy closing the panel over her; hiding for hours, sometimes days in the dark, trying to be still and quiet so that the inspectors, the monsters in her childhood nightmares, wouldn't find her and kill her family.

_Stop it Octavia!_ Her mother's voice came to her, stern yet soothing. _I know you're afraid, but fear is a demon! Close your eyes and tell yourself you are not afraid. That is how you slay the demon. Say it!_

"I am not afraid," Octavia said shakily. Opening her eyes, she started moving forward again. "I'm not afraid," she said more steadily.

Octavia knew that her mother, Aurora Blake, had been brave. She'd had to be, from the day she knew she was having a second child, to protect her children. Octavia wouldn't disappoint her now.

"I'm not afraid."

She wasn't the scared, helpless little girl who could do nothing but hide and hope that the monsters wouldn't find her. Octavia could save herself this time. She would get out and make it back home to her brother and her friends. She kept telling herself this as she steadily progressed forward until at last, she could see light up ahead.

Octavia moved, pressing forward with renewed energy. She reached the rim of the opening and pulled herself out, wriggling forward until she tumbled out of the hole, thankfully onto soft grass. And then she just lay there for a moment taking deep breaths, thankful to be out of that hole and feeling the grass under her and the weak early morning sunlight on her face – she figured it was just after dawn.

Suddenly, she sat up quickly, looking around for any sign of a threat. She may have gotten out of the cave, but she could still be in enemy territory. She would relax when she was somewhere safe. Seeing no sign of anyone around her, Octavia got to her feet and turned in her circle, trying to get her barrings. Recognizing a mountain peek in the distance, and judging by the direction of the sun – navigation being another thing that others had been teaching in camp – Octavia had an idea of which direction camp was in. She started moving.

XX

Octavia ran as best she could, going in her best idea of which direction was home. Her injured leg shot pain through her at every step, but she ignored the pain and kept pushing on; she had to get back to camp. She stopped in her tracks when she heard a scream in the distance and turned, trying to find the source. Was that a grounder, or one of her own people?

She didn't see anything before someone grabbed her from behind and a hand covered her mouth, blocking all sound. Octavia struggled and caught a glimpse of her captor – the grounder from the cave – as he pulled her back, practically taking her off her feet, until they were behind a tree. His arm wrapped around her like iron keeping her pinned against him so that she couldn't move.

The grounder held her so that she could see around the tree to the clearing that she'd just been running through and Octavia's eyes widened when she saw a girl come running through the woods. Octavia knew her; it was Roma, one of the girls who'd been sharing Bellamy's tent recently. Octavia struggled and tried to pull the grounder's heated palm away from her mouth to call out to Roma. Her struggles were useless though, he was too strong.

Roma was running in a blind panic. First John was dead, snatched up and his body dropped out of the trees with his throat cut, and then Diggs...it happened so fast. And she jut ran. She didn't know where the others where behind her, or even where she was going. She just knew that she had to run, had to get away, had to...

Octavia froze and sucked in a shocked breath as a spear came flying out of the trees thrown with enough force to hit Roma in the chest, take her clear off her feet and pin her to a tree. Octavia didn't move, didn't even breath, as she looked up into the trees for the grounder who threw the spear, but just as at the river when a spear had hit Jasper she didn't see anyone. Her eyes flickered back to Roma's body. Unlike Jasper, there was no way that Roma survived. _That could have been me_, thought Octavia; she was in that clearing a minute ago. _That _would_ have been me_, she realized. If the grounder still holding onto her hadn't pulled her out of sight, she'd be dead.

She felt the grounder's arm loosen around her, but she didn't struggle to pull away; he slowly moved his hand away from her mouth, and she didn't scream. The grounder held onto her arms and pulled her around in the other direction, leading her away from Roma's body, away from the hidden danger. He moved quickly and silently, pulling Octavia along as she tried to keep up. She figured they were a safe distance away when he let go of her arms and let her walk on her own. He didn't say anything as he went on ahead of her.

Octavia hesitated for a moment before she followed him, not knowing what else to do. If she tried to run she wouldn't get far, and he could catch her easily if he wanted to. But so far, _this_ grounder had only helped her. Even if she didn't know why, Octavia thought that she was better off following him than taking her chances on her own when there were other grounders out here who, if Roma's sudden death was any indication, would kill her on sight. So she followed him, trying to keep up with his fast pace and longer stride.

In the light of day, she finally got a good look at him as they walked. He'd pulled his mask down and she could see his face now. Under the black face paint his skin was light brown and his features were strong. He had a bald head, a muscular build and was tall, taller than Bellamy and maybe a few years older than him. His clothes were all gray and black and Octavia could see a big knife at his side. He wore boots lined with fur and the gloves he was wearing looked like they had spikes across the knuckles. He was also wearing a vest with other things hooked to it – Octavia couldn't tell what they were – and a hood made from some kind of animal skin.

The grounder looked back at her occasionally, and slowed his pace when she started to fall behind, limping heavily, but he didn't speak. And he didn't stop until Octavia faltered, leaning against the nearest tree with a groan when it felt like her injured leg would give out if she kept going.

"My leg..." Octavia said when the grounder stopped and turned to face her. "I need to rest."

He tipped his head to the side, considering for a moment, before walking towards her. Octavia took a few steps back, still wary of him. He came to her side undeterred, got an arm under her back and legs and scooped her up into his arms. Apparently he was in a hurry to get where he was going. Octavia was tense as he continued walking, carrying her weight easily. She didn't know how to react to him touching her, but after a few moments she relaxed against him. She looked up at him, and his face was hard and expressionless as he looked straight ahead. She could feel the solid muscles in his arms and chest as he carried her – he could break her in half if he wanted to – but, Octavia didn't think that he would hurt her.

As he continued walking in silence Octavia wondered why he was doing this. A grounder had killed Roma back there; why was he protecting her, keeping her hidden, from his own people? Why did he help her after she fell off the ravine last night in the first place? Why didn't he just kill her, or leave her there if he wasn't going to kill her? She had a lot of questions and no answers. Though whatever his reason for helping her was, she was grateful.

"Thank you," said Octavia. "You saved my life."

The grounder gave no response, or even any indication that he heard her. Octavia wasn't just worried about her own life though. The only reason Roma would have been out here was if she was with Bellamy – Octavia knew her brother would be looking for her – which means that the grounders could get him too. Octavia didn't know who this grounder was, or if she could trust him, but somehow she felt like she could.

"That girl back there, I knew her. If she's here then so is my brother. _Please_, you have to help him too. They'll kill him," Octavia pleaded. Again she got no response. The grounder kept looking straight ahead as he walked, not acknowledging the burden he carried as she pleaded with him. Octavia started to feel hopeless; the grounders were so different from them, maybe they didn't even speak the same language. "You don't understand me do you?" Still nothing; Octavia threw her head back in frustration, "Great."

He glanced down at her then. While his face was hard, his expression stoic, Octavia thought that his eyes seemed softer, kinder. He had brown eyes, dark brown. Octavia waited to see if he would say something, but after a moment he looked away again, staring straight ahead.

Since conversation seemed to be out, Octavia looked around at what she could see of their surroundings, and after a while she had an idea where he was taking her. Her suspicions were confirmed when he set her down, making sure she was balanced on her feet, and knelt down next to a grate hidden in the ground – the entrance to his cave. The grate was very well concealed; she would have walked right past it if she didn't know it was there. If they were as close to camp as she thought then some of their hunting or scouting parties might have. She stood by as the grounder unlocked the grate and pushed it open, and then looked up at her. Octavia suppressed a groan – he wanted her to go back down there, underground again.

Octavia allowed the grounder to carry her down the hole and through the passage into the cave without a fight. He sat her down gently on the floor in the middle of the cave and moved off. There was a small bit of light trickling in from the hole in the roof, but it was very dim, and Octavia's eyes hadn't adjusted yet. She could hear him rummaging around for something behind her.

"Why are you taking care of me?" asked Octavia. At this point she didn't really expect an answer, but she felt compelled to ask, to try to get a response – she wanted to understand. "You found me at the bottom of that ravine...fixed my knee."

Octavia was startled when the grounder came back to her side and put something round her wrist – a metal cuff.

"What the hell are you doing?!" she exclaimed in shock as he pulled both of her wrists together and wrapped the chain attached to the cuff around them. "Please don't do this!" Octavia begged, trying to pull away, suddenly flashing back to the day she was arrested, the guards handcuffing her and pulling her away from her brother, the only person she'd ever known, as she cried.

"Stop it!" The grounder held onto her chained wrists and dragged her across the floor to the far wall. "No, stop!" Octavia was crying desperately as he pulled the chain through a metal ring embedded in the wall and secured it with a lock. "No! Please don't do this!" Octavia begged as he turned away. She dropped her head into her hands helplessly. The sound of her crying followed him out of the cave as he left, as she was left alone, locked up in the dark again.

XX

Octavia sat, tense and waiting, with her back to the cave entrance, her legs under her so that she could get to her feet quickly. She was clutching the rock that she had found on the floor so tightly in her hand that her knuckles had gone white. She would only have one chance, if that.

She still didn't know why the grounder was keeping her here. She had considered that he had chained her up to protect her, to keep her from getting out again and being caught by other grounders; or maybe he wanted to keep her for his own reasons. But despite her fear, Octavia's instinct still told her that he wasn't going to hurt her, but she wasn't going to take that chance. She didn't care why he was keeping her here, she was not going to be kept locked up again, not by anyone..._Never_ again.

Octavia started when she hard a sound approaching, someone coming through the tunnel, and braced herself. She knew when he walked into the cave, though his footsteps were quiet. And she could feel it when he came to stand right behind her. Octavia looked over her shoulder at him and saw that he was crouched down behind her so that they were at eye level. He was wearing his mask again which covered the lower half of his face, and he had the key in his hand. His dark eyes considered her as if he was deciding what to do with her now.

She didn't give him the chance to decide though. Acting quickly, she swung the rock that she had hidden in her hands, catching him on the side of his head. While he was stunned for a moment Octavia quickly got to her feet and struck again. The second blow knocked the grounder to the floor, unconscious. She stared at him for a second, surprised that it had worked, and then reached for the key in his hand...


End file.
